This tournament featured three group stages before moving into a playoff bracket. The first group stage which was planned to accommodate 128 players sorted into four-man groups and top two players in each group advanced, only had 82 players.[2] The general opinion of this group stage was negative as the first group stage turned into three-man and in some cases two-man groups which subsequently gave some players an automatic advance into the second group stage, although at least one match was played for seeding purposes. Due to the fact that there was little competition in the first group stage there were no notable eliminations from the first round of play. A surprising upset was MaNa losing to Swedish player ProxyPanda. In an interview with RAKAKA, ProxyPanda said he went 10 - 10 Gateway both games (the second time to double bluff his opponent) and that he was embarrassed for cheesing.[3]

In the second group stage, the format was still four-man groups and was arguably where the first signs of good games began. Naama, ClouD and Delphi were eliminated from this group stage. The Koreans showed no signs of faltering all of them taking first place in their respective groups (PuMa took 2nd place to Genius). Another upset occurred when ThorZaIN lost 2-0 to Naugrim. Game 1 was a 24 minute macro game on Daybreak which was not streamed and Game 2 on Ohana Naugrim, caught ThorZaIN off guard with a Roach and Baneling all-in at 8 minutes. Unexpectedly the unknown Zerg player traveller advanced in his group 2-1 with wins over previous Dreamhack champion Naama and notable terran player FuRy. Liquid's dark horse TLO was on excellent form at this event taking first place in his group after dismantling MaNa 2-0, snute 2-1 and unknown player MoSiE 2-0 showing a resurgence for the ambivalent Zerg player after his lack-lustre performances over the past year.

Russian players, sLivko, TitaN, LiveZerg, Turuk, and another unknown Roll, dispatched opponents in their groups to proceed into the next round. The number of Russians left in the tournament was tied for second place, with Korea, behind Sweden in first place.

The 3rd group stage followed the same format as the previous one. Players were seeded into this group stage with two first place players and two second place players in each group. For PuMa and ThorZaIN, who took 2nd place to Genius and Naugrim respectively, it meant that they would be seeded with at least two other stellar players. PuMa received a poor draw with HyuN, SaSe and up and coming player Forsen. He was only able to take one game and it came from Forsen before being eliminated 0-3. Meanwhile the rest of the group was surprised well matched. HyuN versus Forsen could not be better described than as a series of unfortunate events for the Swedish player Forsen. He had HyuN on the ropes and, at times, secured game number 1 but whether it was nerves, the fragility of the ZvZ match-up or another reason Forsen was unable to overcome his Korean Zerg brother. This group ended in a tiebreaker. HyuN took first with SaSe second. Forsen who had shown excellent play did not make it into the second day of play.

Group H was another source of crowd disappointment as NaNiwa, playing on his home turf, was defeated 1-2 in this group stage after a convincing win against Genius. This would be Genius' only loss in the third group stage. After the games in an interview with RAKAKA, NaNiwa claimed that he expected this result if he was faced against Zerg players. He had only prepared for Terran and Protoss opponents because of his matchups in the GSL.[4]Nerchio, also in this group, a noted online tournament winner, managed to overcome sLivko in order to advance from the group.

Another interesting group came from group E consisting of MorroW, Protosser, LaLuSh, and TLO. This group, which after TLOs play earlier in the tournament, at first glance seemed like the only contest would be for first; between MorroW and TLO, the Swede race-picker playing Terran in this all Zerg group. This match up ended fairly uneventfully 2-0 in favour of MorroW after two standard macro games. But again the unknown Finn Protosser managed to defeat TLO and prominent European Zerg player, LaLuSh, to advance out of his group for a third time and into the playoff bracket.

In other groups: Naugrim, after defeating ThorZaIN the previous round, was eliminated by the combination of Ret and Seiplo who took first and second respectively. ThorZaIN and SjoW marched onto the playoff bracket. LiveZerg was to be the only Russian player to make it past the third group stage taking wins off of TitaN and Cytoplasm. elfi won a close series with MaNa to advance to the playoff bracket behind Monster.

The playoff bracket was single-elimination beginning with best of threes until the finals which was a best of five. At the onset there seemed to be a dominating Zerg force with Terran seeming to be the underdog race when it came to advancing from previous group stages. The unknown Finish player, Protosser, seemed to have ran out of luck as he was placed against previous GSL champion Polt. In two uneventful games Protosser was defeated and out of the tournament.

Cytoplasm was whispered information about his opponent, having forgot to put himself to busy. He then proceeded to use the information, winning his match against Kurble. The Referee first refused to have the match replayed, but after evidence was presented by audience - the whisper having been shown on a nearby big screen - the first match was replayed. [Citation needed]